-Welcome back, everybody.
We're hanging out with John Legend.
-Hello.
-We have a lot to talk about, the album, "Legend."
We have to talk about "The Voice."
-It was nice though taking a trip down memory lane.
-Yeah, I remember that band.
-Our group was special.
-It was something. It was tight, yeah.
How is Chrissy doing? How is the family?
-Everybody's good. -Please give them my best.
-We're having a baby sometime in the next few months.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Congratulations. That's so good.
-The kids are very excited. They're back at school now.
-It's all happening. -Luna's in first grade now.
Crazy. Crazy. -It happens so fast, buddy.
-I know Chrissy is the chef in the family, okay but, you --
-I can cook though. I can cook.
I can throw down. -I know.
Well, there's a thing that you started a little controversy.
-Controversy as the Brits would say.
-Yes, of course, on the Internet and on Instagram.
A little controversy because you said that
chicken and waffles are good but chicken and pancakes are better.
-I stand by it. I stand by it.
Y'all doubting it because y'all haven't tried it.
[ Laughter ]
-"Chicken and pancakes are greater than
chicken and waffles, fight me," is what you put.
-I did. I did.
-Yeah, that's hilarious.
-That's how we say it on the Internet.
-But what kind of reaction did this get?
-I got some agreement, some skepticism.
But I know I'm right, so, you know?
[ Laughter ]
-Well, I don't know.
I would say chicken and waffles.
-Have you ever tried chicken and pancakes?
-I've never. -Bubby's has some in New York.
You should try that. -This is from Bubby's.
-Oh, this is from Bubby's.
-We actually -- We heard that you like Bubby's.
But why pancakes over waffles?
-I think it's a texture thing because they're basically made
with the same batter -- similar batter.
But I like the soft, fluffy texture of a pancake
with the crispy chicken.
I think it goes well.
I like the combination of the soft and the crispy together.
I think it's better.
I'm sure Ahmir has thoughts on this.
-Actually, we agree.
-Okay, alright. -Tariq too?
-Yeah, there's a Bubby's in LaGuardia,
like, in the new terminal
and they have the pancakes and chicken.
-Hey, I didn't know you were a spokesperson for Bubby's.
[ Laughter ]
Don't name all the locations. Here we go.
Do you think -- You agree?
-Yes. -Yeah.
-I'm going to try this right now because I do not agree.
I think you want that little crunch.
-A little crunch and a little fluffy.
-I'm going to do -- I'm doing a little syrup too.
-Mmm-mmm-mmm. That's good chicken too.
-Wait, I can't even slice the pancake.
Alright, here we go.
Alright. -I make a mean pancake myself.
That's our Sunday tradition at our house.
I make pancakes every Sunday.
-That pancake's good. -Mm-hmm.
It's a blessing. That's delicious.
-He's right. That's unbelievable.
[ Cheers and applause ]
It's actually better than waffles.
This is a big thing.
Dude, this is a big -- This is a giant thing.
I've never done this.
-And now that your eyes are open,
you can't see the world any differently now.
-I feel like a new man. -You're a new man.
-Yeah. -You've been converted.
Welcome, welcome. -Wow, I'm so happy!
Chicken and pancakes, who knew?
Chicken and pancakes.
And Bubby's, there's like six locations in the city, Tariq.
There's one --
[ Laughter ]
-Tariq has a sponsored post on Instagram.
-Bubby's.
I love following you on all the socials.
You do have a strong opinion about stuff.
But I do also like obviously your music.
You do funny things but also your activism.
And a lot of people on the Internet have said
they want you maybe to run for office.
-No.
-Not even thinking about it? Not even thinking about it?
-Not even thinking about it.
I truly enjoy what I do and I enjoy my life.
And I do not want to run for office.
It doesn't seem fun to me.
-It doesn't. I looked on the inner-webs to see about
this theory, and I found out that this John Legend actually
did run for office and win in high school.
-I ran for student body president.
[ Audience aws ]
I was the student body president at my high school in Ohio.
-You were? -Yeah.
-And what did you accomplish there as student body president?
-Well, we had to plan a lot of events and different things.
We had a lot of meetings. I started a peer tutoring program.
-Did you really? -Yeah.
-That's fantastic. -Yeah.
-Do you remember your campaign? Do you remember what you ran on?
-Well, I gave a speech and then at the end, I sang a little bit.
-You had to. -'Cause why not? Why not?
-You had to sing. -I just sang at the end of it.
Just put a button on it at the end, and "vote for me."
My brother actually cut my hair.
You met him backstage. He cuts my hair still.
But back then he put "J.R.S. for Pres" in my hair.
John Roger Stephens, that's my real name.
-Dude, that's a slam dunk.
That's like, come on. -That's all it took.
-Well, let's talk about -- I want to talk about "Legend."
Let's talk about this. Here we go.
It is out today. It's out. -It's out.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Can I just say, too,
it's hard enough to just release one album.
But this is technically two albums.
-Yeah, it's a double album. There's 12 songs on each side.
I had a lot of time, though.
We couldn't go on tour for a long time.
-24 songs?
-And this is what the pandemic has brought.
I made more songs than I'm usually used to making
for an album so I figured let's make it a double album.
-Did you think about spacing it out
and going like, "I'll put one out now
and I'll take a year off"? -No, because by the time I would
put it out, the second one,
I'd be already writing new stuff,
and I would feel weird about putting out old stuff.
So I was just like, "Let's just put it all out."
-Really? -Yeah.
-You went on the Internet and announced the title, "Legend."
And Chrissy, your wife, commented,
"Love to find out the album name with everyone else.
Keeping me humble." -See, I dispute that contention.
I told her when I was -- I was literally showing her
different versions of the album cover.
And I told her the album was called "Legend"
and then I reminded her of that.
She's like, "Oh, yeah, you're probably right. I forgot."
[ Laughter ]
-That's a good impression of Chrissy, by the way.
"Oh, yeah, you're right. I probably forgot."
But there's some great collaborations.
-Yes. We got Jazmine Sullivan.
-Ty Dolla $ign. -Ty Dolla $ign.
Jhene Aiko. Rapsody. -Saweetie.
-Saweetie. Rick Ross. -Rick Ross.
-Ledisi.
-And the music video you did with Saweetie was really fun.
-It was very cool. So we shot it in Miami.
And the director's idea was to basically allow our dancers
to kind of freestyle and be themselves.
And so the idea was that we told them
this was the callback for their audition.
And they were just out there freestyling.
But we were filming it.
And then halfway through the song, me and Saweetie
would surprise them while they were dancing.
And we got, like, genuine, authentic reactions from them.
It was amazing. -It makes you just smile.
It makes you go, "Oh, this is so fun."
-Yeah, they really loved it. We loved it.
It was really heartwarming, and we had a good time.
-Yeah, that's what we want.
Can we talk about "The Voice"? -Yes.
-Season 22, September 19th on NBC.
-I'm in it to win it.
-Camila Cabello, though.
-Camila Cabello is our newest coach.
-And she's a friend of the show.
I know her. I know she knows music.
-She's very smart. She's very competitive.
I brought her on my team last season to be my guest mentor,
and it's like I sabotaged myself.
-You created a monster. -I created a monster because
she's coming back with a lot of mojo,
a lot of competitive fire.
-Didn't she get her start --
-She was on "X Factor." -"X Factor."
-She was in that group called Fifth Harmony.
And they were assembled on "X Factor,"
just like One Direction was. [ Cheers and applause ]
-So, she knows exactly how to --
Just even mentioning One Direction, they go,
"Oh, my God!" They're not coming out.
-Yes, but Simon, sometimes,
he knows how to put the groups together.
-He's smart, yeah.
But she's lived through it, so I think people probably
look to her and go like, "Oh, you know, that might be the --"
-Quit making the pitch for her.
Make her make her pitch for herself.
I got to beat this girl. -I know.
Do you like when people sing your songs?
Do you turn the chair around and go --
-I am particularly tough on people when they sing my song.
And I think it's a weakness of mine.
It's my issue. -'Cause why?
-I nitpick it too much when they sing my song.
-So you're like -- Or do you go like,
"Oh, I could have sung it like that"?
-Yeah. I had one guy that sang my song "Glory,"
and he did such a beautiful job.
And he did new things to it that I really loved,
and I was like -- I turned for him.
And he ended up going all the way to the finals with me.
His name was Victor. -How about this year?
You feeling good about it? -I love my team this year.
We're good. I feel like we're going to win this year.
-Alright, John Legend. You heard it here first.
-It's going to happen. -I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's a sneak peek at the new season of "The Voice."
Take a look at this.
-I turned for you first, I would like to remind you.
It's obvious that your voice is powerful.
You have crazy range
that most male singers could never pull off.
There was something interesting about the little turns
in your voice that were very soulful to me.
It sounded like a church singer singing rock music sometimes.
Honestly. -That's exactly what I am.
-Exactly. -Grew up in church singing.
-Okay, we're screwed. -I heard that then.
That's why I was so floored by you.
You're the kind of artist that can win "The Voice."
You can win this show.
-Here we go. Here we go. Get ready.
John Legend, everybody. "Legend" is out today.
-Thank you.
-And season 22 of "The Voice" premieres September 19th on NBC.
We'll be right back with Danielle Brooks, everybody.
Stick around.